This invention relates to a cooling arrangement for an electronic device comprising a part which is susceptible to a temperature rise while the electronic device is put in operation.
In the manner which will later be described in greater detail, the electronic device is typically at least one integrated circuit which serves as a heat source element. Such at least one electronic unit is often encased in a casing as a packaging. The casing comprises surrounding walls in, for example, a rectangular prism to enclose a hollow space in which the electronic unit or units are removably situated. The casing is supported or otherwise placed in an atmosphere with one of the surrounding walls held as a bottom wall on a predetermined plane, such as a horizontal plane.
In a conventional cooling arrangement of this type, the electronic units are supported orthogonally by the bottom wall. In order to keep the heat source element or elements in a predetermined temperature range, heat must be conveyed from most part of the heat source element to the atmosphere through the hollow space and the casing. In addition, the casing must have a low thermal resistance.
In another conventional cooling arrangement, the heat source element is attached to a "plug-in" member for attachment and removal of the electronic unit to and from the casing. The casing comprises a pair of side walls. Each of the side walls comprises a guiding member for slidably receiving the plug-in member. Furthermore, a heat sink is attached to the plug-in member in thermal contact with the heat source element.
In this example, each electronic unit comprises the heat source element, the plug-in member, and the heat sink. The electronic unit therefore has a structure which is unavoidably subjected to various problems in order to allow the attachment and the removal and to effectively cool the heat source element.
In still another conventional cooling arrangement wherein the heat source element has a principal surface and is attached to the plug-in member, the heat sink is provided with an inside surface which is adopted to the principal surface thereby to reduce a thermal resistance between the heat sink and the heat source element. In this case, such heat sinks must be adapted individually to the heat source elements. In other words, it has been difficult to apply this structure to various heat source elements.